Daily roundup: Tobacco packaging, play scheme arson and maths lessons in schools

Tobacco packaging should be plain, include larger health warnings and provide details of stop-smoking services, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has said. President of the college Hilary Cass, said the tobacco industry uses “cool and bright” packaging to attract children. Responding to a government consultation on standardising packaging, Cass called for an end to packet designs featuring words like “smooth” and “gold” to stop young people being "pulled in by the industry".

A charity running play schemes for children has been targeted by arsonists, the Leicester Mercury reports. Staff at St Andrews Play Association, which runs free play activities and day trips for children aged between six and 13 and is supported by Leicester City Council, say they will have to spend around £1,000 replacing two large bins that were set alight close to the children's play area. The playground surface was also damaged as a result of the fire.

A housing association in Newcastle has joined forces with Barclays Bank to train ten young “money champions”. Young people from Your Homes Newcastle’s (YHN) Youth Voice project have been taught how to improve their money management skills, including how to budget, save and manage a bank account. They are now being encouraged to pass on their knowledge to some of the hardest-to-reach young people in the city.

Plans to overhaul maths teaching in primary schools in England are "undeliverable" a campaign group has warned. The BBC reports that a letter from the National Numeracy campaign to the Education Secretary Michael Gove says the draft curriculum is "overloaded" and relies too much on rote learning. The curriculum, which proposes that all children must know their 12-times table by the age of nine, is due to come into force in 2014.

A website has been launched so people affected by historic child abuse in Scotland can contribute to a debate on how the issue should be tackled. The Scottish Human Rights Commission’s (SHRC) Interaction website, comes ahead of a meeting scheduled to take place in October. The meeting will bring together people affected by historic child abuse to develop an action plan for justice.